Current Call for Applications

Deadlines and Dates

• The grant is awarded subject to allocation of funds by the Initiative and Networking Fund of the Helmholtz Association. Applications may be handed in anytime as long as funds are available. Due to the limited budget, we recommend that you apply as soon as possible.
• To facilitate the processing the applications will be bundled roughly at the end of every month. The next deadline is Tuesday, January 7, 2025.
• Selection decisions will be made by members of the ▶ KHYS Steering Committee in a circulation procedure. Please note that this process will take some time.

Application Requirements

• The KIT applicant and the aspirant have to jointly apply for the Aspirant Grant (Postdoc). The KIT applicant has to conclusively state why he or she wants to invite this particular aspirant to KIT. The aspirant in return has to point out why he or she wants to come to KIT. 
• The aspirant should be in an advanced stage of his or her doctorate or have finished their doctorate less than about three years ago.
• The stay at KIT should enable the aspirant to gain an impression of the research environment in which he or she may be doing a postdoc in the future. 
• A KIT (post)doctoral researcher serves as the aspirant’s “buddy” and assists him or her regarding administrative issues or questions concerning the facilities at KIT or housing and free-time activities.
• KIT Associate Fellows and heads of certified KIT junior research groups have to be eligible to supervise postdoctoral researchers in the framework of his/her own research projects. They should hand in a corresponding letter of support from the head of institute.
• In principle, the aspirant’s (future) doctoral degree will have to be equivalent to a German doctoral degree. 
• Funding for the same purpose is not admissible.

Application Documents

• ▶ Application form signed by the KIT applicant, the KIT “buddy”, and the aspirant
• If the applicant is a KIT Associate Fellow or a head of a certified KIT junior research group: a letter of support from the head of institute including, among other things, an outlook regarding the support for the hiring and/or supervision of the postdoctoral researcher should the stay at KIT be successful (see Question 1.5 in the FAQs)
• Documents provided by the aspirant: 
  • CV including date of birth; course of studies (discipline, duration, place, grade); stays abroad; awards/acquired third-party funding (if applicable); research and teaching experience etc. 
  • List of publications (please distinguish between peer-reviewed and other publications)
  • Letter of recommendation by a former professor/professor of the home institution
  • Scans of all of the following official documents: 
    • Bachelor’s and master’s degree certificates as well as performance record/Transcript of Records in original language
    • Bachelor’s and master’s degree certificates as well as performance record/Transcript of Records in English or German (if possible translations provided by your home university)
    • Document stating the grading system of the university for the master’s degree (explaining the highest and lowest grade possible as well as the distribution of the grades, e.g. proportion of merit grades, mark range)
    • Doctoral degree certificate or document proving the status as a doctoral researcher and performance record/Transcript of Records in the original language
    • Doctoral degree certificate or document proving the status as a doctoral researcher and performance record/Transcript of Records in English or German (if possible translations provided by your home university)
• ▶ Excel table containing the key data of the application (please hand in separately in Excel format) 
• Statement of the KIT applicant (via separate e-mail) regarding the plans for funding the potential postdoctoral project

All documents should be in English. Please merge all documents into one PDF file in the order stated above (excluding the Excel table and the funding statement) and send the files to ▶ aspirant_postdoc∂khys.kit.edu.

Selection Criteria

• Compliance with application requirements
• Fulfillment of required formalities (a complete application, submitted in time, including all required documents, filled-out correctly and signed)
• Conclusiveness of motivation of the aspirant to come to KIT for the stay
• Plausibility of reasons of KIT applicant for inviting the aspirant
• Quality/conclusiveness of the activities planned for the stay
• Qualification of the aspirant/scientific track record
• Strategic relevance for KIT